{"id":34639,"date":"2023-06-10T03:24:26","date_gmt":"2023-06-10T07:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/?p=34639"},"modified":"2023-06-10T03:24:26","modified_gmt":"2023-06-10T07:24:26","slug":"eye-contact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/2023\/06\/eye-contact\/","title":{"rendered":"Eye contact"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the rousing success<\/a> of a week previously, I went down to Jordan Lake to see if I could accomplish more of the same, and test out another slight change to my shooting habits. But for reasons unknown, activity among any of the bird species was supremely lacking;<\/strong> two osprey (Pandion haliaetus<\/em>) performed lazy and distant passes over the lake but neglected to dive for anything, and an even-more-distant eagle cruised straight through without even a faint bank to add better framing opportunities. Last week I was sure that the young had hatched;<\/strong> this week that surety has faltered quite a bit. Nothing seemed significantly different, but the behavior of the birds certainly was.<\/p>\n

One thing missing last week was activity in the one osprey nest nearby that I’ve been keeping an eye on, and I was suspicious that it was unoccupied, despite earlier indications. No one could be seen in the vicinity, and no one brought fish by. This week, however, I heard osprey calls from that general direction while no one was visible, and I fired off a few frames for closer examination.<\/p>\n

\"osprey
I could see nothing in the viewfinder, which was considerably more distant than this crop, and no protective male seemed to be in evidence, but someone<\/em> was calling;<\/strong> the screening pine needles don’t help anything. Eventually, I gave up on the location and decided to try another, see if there was more activity there and if perhaps the woodpeckers were nesting. On the way out, however, I took a small side hike to the spot where the nest could be seen from underneath. That was a bit more productive.<\/p>\n

\"osprey
She was still calling, which at this distance was almost enough to confirm the direction (it still could have been in a nearby tree,) and favored me with some eye contact as I fired off a few frames, though she also looked around a bit too. No other bird was in evidence, so I don’t get the impression this was territorial calling – perhaps she was reminding hubby that it was time to eat. But I also know that the osprey are acutely aware of me when I’m at this vantage, so I only do brief checks.<\/p>\n

At another one of my regular haunts, a black vulture (Coragyps atratus<\/em>) was sunning itself atop a light pole, self-consciously closing its wings as I drew within view. Not quite spooked enough to take flight, it was certainly wary of my presence.<\/p>\n

\"black
Because birds have a very wide field of view, I rarely get such dead-on (sorry) perspectives;<\/strong> they can often be looking right at the camera while still providing a profile view, and it’s just our eyes-front bias that makes us believe only now<\/em> is this one making eye contact. But I heard you asking for a detailed vulture head shot, and I obliged.<\/p>\n

Really, there was very little activity anywhere, including the woodpeckers – not a sign or a sound from any. I soon gave up on the day, but not before finding a Carolina wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus<\/em>) checking out an inviting hollow tree.<\/p>\n

\"Carolina
I have over a dozen frames as this one called and twitched about as they do, but it was the straight-on views of the other birds that made me check carefully to see if I had one for this guy too;<\/strong> at least I got that<\/em> out of the day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After the rousing success of a week previously, I went down to Jordan Lake to see if I could accomplish more of the same, and test out another slight change to my shooting habits. But for reasons unknown, activity among any of the bird species was supremely lacking; two osprey (Pandion haliaetus) performed lazy and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[4541,882,4542,6098,3798,5528,1975,1976,883],"class_list":["post-34639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nature","category-photo","tag-black-vulture","tag-carolina-wren","tag-coragyps-atratus","tag-eye-contact","tag-jordan-lake","tag-nest","tag-osprey","tag-pandion-haliaetus","tag-thryothorus-ludovicianus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34639\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wading-in.net\/walkabout\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}